Reflections After 15 Months on GAPS: Part 5 – Thoughts from a Non-GAPS Person

This is a guest post from my husband Jesse. He joined me on GAPS in July 2011. I hope you enjoy hearing his perspective.

First I should explain that I am not a GAPS person, which means that I do not have digestive, physiological, or psychological problems that can only be healed by eating a GAPS diet. However, I hope to convince you that even non-GAPS people can greatly benefit from eating a GAPS diet.

While I did not have the same incentive to change my diet that Meghan did, I joined her in every change as she transitioned our diet to traditional foods. I started eating a lot more fat, only ate soaked grains, and avoided all foods that we deemed non-traditional. I also stopped eating sugar. With the exception of the rare meal out with friends, I followed our new diet strictly.

My body responded wonderfully. I cannot overemphasize how much eating traditionally and removing sugar from my diet improved my physical and mental well-being. I have always been slightly overweight and I lost a significant amount of weight without changing anything else in my life. I started feeling so good that I didn’t see why I would need to make any more diet changes.

Eventually a few nagging issues began weighing on me and I realized that I would be even healthier on GAPS but I didn’t want to give up my comfort foods. I still had some lingering acne, regular canker sores and my bowel movements had become worse. After debating for a while I finally just decided to go for it. While it had taken a couple of months for my traditional, no-sugar diet to produce any changes, when I went on GAPS I noticed a dramatic difference within a week. Since starting GAPS I have had exactly one canker sore and only a few acne breakouts and my bowel movements are significantly improved. I still have more healing to do, but I am happy to have made noticeable progress immediately.

I also lost even more weight and started feeling even more energetic. Possibly most surprisingly I have been happier and generally in a better mood since starting GAPS. I did not think that GAPS would change anything about my personality or that food was affecting my state of mind. But being on GAPS seems to be fixing whatever issue was causing my slight moodiness.

Despite my hesitation, GAPS has been enormously beneficial. I believe that it is a diet that can improve almost anyone’s life. This has been such a positive experience that, even if Meghan and I stop doing GAPS once we feel that have fully healed, I believe that we will do a couple of months of GAPS every few years for some digestive maintenance and to see if any minor issues (like my slightly more sour demeanor) are actually food-related.

Although GAPS can be challenging, I strongly endorse anyone taking on this diet. This includes GAPS people as well their partners and any other family members who may appear to be in good health. Don’t underestimate how much it can change your health. For non-GAPS people like me, the changes may start happening very quickly. For Meghan the changes have been very slow but just as dramatic.

If you are thinking that GAPS might help you, then I wholeheartedly encourage you to jump right in. If you want to convince a significant other to join you, I hope this post helps, and I would be glad to answer questions. Meghan and I have a lot of experience and we are always happy to share it.

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